Black Spruce

(Picea mariana)

Spruces have certain characteristics that are the
same. You'll find that they have sharp needles with four sides on
them. They also have a strong pungent smell to the needles when you
crush them in your fingers. Needles of the black spruce are
blue-green, short, and pointed. They only measure 1/2 inch. The twigs are rough with bases that stick out for each
individual needle. This is different from the firs that have smooth
twig surfaces. The cones of spruces are also thin like paper. For
the black spruce, they are small and oval, measuring only 1 inch in
length. The cones for the black spruce are light brown when they're
ripe but the 1/8-inch long seeds are dark brown with wings on them.
Sometimes the cones stay on the tree for a long time.

Black spruce grow in swampy areas with poorly drained
soil and sometimes on well-drained slopes in northern Wisconsin. The
grow along with the tamarack, balsam fir, and white spruce. The wood is yellow-white in color and soft. The wood is used mostly for paper pulp. Chickadees will frequent spruce
branches to find food, as a perch, or to nest and raise young. You
may also see red squirrels, hawks, owls, gray jays, wrens warblers and
flycatchers doing the same.